oculus rift @en

Virtual reality: manynowknowwhat it is, fewhave tried itfor now, but2016couldbe a good yearto spreadthis experience, on the one handthanksto devices such asGoogle Cardboard or Samsung Gear VR, on the other hands thanks to 3D viewers like those of Oculus VR and Valve, which a few days after the launch of pre-ordersforthe consumer versionofOculus Riftin turn it hasannouncedthat it will openpre-ordersforHTC Vive from February 29.

What is still missingin the case of HTC Vive is the priceand is anot insignificantdetail: if with599 dollars /699 eurossurprisedmany whowere expectinga lower price, HTC Vive probablywill cost even morebecausewhile Oculus Rift (but even Sony‘s Playstation VR) are designedforcontentto be enjoyedsitting, Valve with HTC Vive wants to encourage peopleto move, being able to createan entirevirtual roomaround them.

Yet torevealeven thecontentthatwill be made availableto launch, buttheyshould be announcedlater this month. It is nowincreasingly clearthat virtual realityis about to becomea “mainstream” theme in every respect, although it remainsa big question mark: will be offeredsuchcontentsthat usersactuallybuyvirtual reality devices?

The memoryof theflopof3D televisions, stronglypushedby manufacturers ofconsumer electronics, butthat in fact haven’t arousedinterestin the users, due to contents not enough up to, shows thatyou can nevertake anything for grantedandevenValveforHTCVive should take this intoaccount. Ifyou want to knowhow it will endkeep followingMondivirtuali.it even through our account on Twitter and our fanpage on Facebook (but remember: Mondivirtuali is also on Flickr, on Pinterest, on Scoop.it, on Paper.li and also on Youtube).

Oculus Rift like Pixel: a few days agoo Oculus Riftpremiered to the press, in Beverly Hills, its animated short, Henry, anadorablehedgehogwho likes tohugfriends. Too badforHenry that being, literally, a thornycolleaguethiscreatessome problemsendingup leavingHenrysadandwithoutfriendssothat, as you can see in the teaser belowe, Henry has to celebratehis birthdayalone.

It‘s just a glimpseof whatOculus Story Studio, launched last yearat theSundance Film Festivalto developvirtual realitymoviesthat demonstrate thepotential of the technologythat the groupis developing, candoto see. In fact are five theprojectsto whichOculusStoryStudiois working: besides Henry (and Lost, thefirst short-everdeveloped by Oculus Story Studio) there is already talksofBullfighter to Dear Angelica, a short film thatliterally transportsthe viewer intoan animated worldand beyond.All five of theshortsshouldbereadyby earlynext year, when the retail version of the Oculus Rift headset will be launched.

Just over12months ago FacebookboughtOculus VR (the company that develops3DvisorsOculus Rift) for 2 billion dollars promising aever increasing spreadofcontentsrelated tovirtual reality, but to seein storesthe first “retail” release of the 3D visor developed by Palmer Luckey and Brendan Iribe (which will be basedon thethird prototype, so farknown asCrescent Bay) you will have to waitat leastanother 12 months, since Oculus VR itself in an previewannouncedthatdeliveries will take placeas of the firstquarter2016. The waiting isjustified, according to Oculus VR, by the need toprovide potentialconsumersin addition to the3Dvieweralso “compelling content, a full ecosystem, and a fully-integrated hardware/software tech stack designed specifically for virtual reality”. The problemis thatbetween now and12 monthsprospective buyersmay betempted byothercompeting offers, not onlyand notso much of Sony, which, however,withProject Morpheusis already working onits ownprototype3DviewercompatiblewiththePlaystation 4, to match with DualShock 4 controller and PS Camera, or of Microsoft with its HoloLens, as that ofVerge. Thefamousdeveloperof games andvirtual worldsasDota, Dota2 and Halflife, with whichin the pasthe has workedalsothe current greek Ministerof Finance, Yanis Varoufakis, is itselfengaged in the developmentofa 3D viewer, the HTC Vive, thataccording tothe latestshouldbein storesintimefor the Christmas season2015, with a “market timing” fasterof at least 3months comparedto that of Oculus VR andabove all able totake advantage of theboost givenby theChristmas salesofvideogames. Thereal clashaccording to manywill once againjust that, alreadyseeninmany ways in Second Life and other virtual worlds: will prevailfansof videogamesfor PCs, desktop orlaptops that are, or will befans ofaugmented realityandvirtual realitythe typicalbuyersof suchdevices?In the first case Valve could have the opportunity to “steal the base” to Oculus and to Facebook, in the second caseboth Valve and Sony, as well asthe same Microsoft, riskaflopin excess of that of Google Glass (thatdespite intensivemarketing activitieshave never gonebeyond the sizeof themicroniche market), givingtimeto Palmer Luckey and to Mark Zuckerberg to better assesstheir moves starting from thetype ofcontents (recreationalor other?) and theirsource (user-generatedorprofessional?).

It’s been nine months since Facebookbought for 2 billion dollars Oculus Rift, making Parlmer Luckey and Brendan Iribe two of the youngest multi-millionaires in history.

If this move was seen at the beginning as an attempt of Mark Zuckerberg to invest, in time, in the “next big thing” that could revolutionize the gaming industry (an activity that is increasingly important even for Facebook and social networks in general), so far the expectations related to the potential impact of the virtual world of a mass development of 3D devices focused on platforms for children and young people as Minecraft, Imvu or Second Life.

Also Utherverse look at virtual reality

Now, however, as reported also by VentureBeat, there seem to bedevelopmentsalso regardingplatformstargetedfor adult audiences like Utherverse, which in recent days announced that soon its 3D virtual world, Red Light Center (Rlc) will run on the platform of virtual reality of Oculus Rift.

In Rlc users are used to simulate “hot” sessions even more than in Second Life and generally spend time with all kinds of fun for adults, an experience that now with the technology of Oculus Rift promises to be much more “immersiv” and “realistic” than has so far been by connecting in a network with a platform that, although developed in 3D graphics, is effectively filtered by the two-dimensional screen of devices such as Pcs, tablets or smartphones. Or at least that is what promises the number one of Utherverse, Brian Shuster (the past “pop-up prince” of which we already talked to you at Halloween) in his interview for VentureBeat.

Shuster bets on VR adult content

The new 2.0 release for Pc of Utherverse should debut on the platform of virtual reality of Oculus Rift by the end of the month, as announced at the Adult Video News (Avn) conference of Las Vegas last week, enhancing the appeal of the world’s Shuster that in its first ten years of life (it was launched in 2004), for VentureBeat, recorded 12.5 million registered users in the US and also through its network of franchisees in the rest of the world, for a total of 25 million registered users to date.

Numbers that disagree those stated previously by the same Shuster (who had spoken of 50 million users as a total) but remain an interesting starting point to try the true “mass market” appeal of Oculus Rift as well as a first potential test to assess the possibility of a revival of the entire field of immersive virtual worlds. Also according to Shuster it will be “a spectacular market for virtual reality” and a potential gold mine for Utherverse. Personally I am a little more skeptical, being the “gold rush” time largely behind the shoulders in Second Life and beyond.

Intel too believes in 3D

But there is one thing to say: talking about with Maurizio Riva, Intel Sales Director Emea (Europe, Middle East and Africa, and area covering 80% of the total turnover of the American group), I was confirmed at the last CES in Las Vegas 3D technology has returned to become the main protagonist, between camcorders and 3D printers that promise many more fallout rather than only the “old” 3D tied to entertainment game consoles.

There will be possible, Riva explained to me, applications ranging from facial recognition up to “can see” jackets for the blind, from cameras with the ability to adjust the depth of field to give a real vision 3D image made up to geolocation services for drones with an accuracy and reliability hitherto unthinkable.

A remarkable gap between VR and AR

This new wave of technologies, devices and 3D applications will bridge the gap between virtual reality and augmented reality? This seems to be the direction that is taking the industry and Utherverse may just be the first platform to exploit the trend.

Shuster concluded his interview remembering how often the activities linked to eroticism have pioneered technological revolutions such as the internet, providing new technologies critical mass of users to make them really take off. It could happen again this time: basically there is only one thing in the world that pulls more than four horses, they are real or virtual.

Battle for virtual reality (or augmented reality) business is coming: while Oculus Rift, recently bought by Facebook for 2 billion dollars, wants to build a virtual reality Mmo community of a million players that would be the greatest of history, SocialRadar bets on Google Glass to ramp up its mobile “find your friends” app so far only available for iOS, i.e. for iPhone and iPad.

Two announcements that have brought the field of virtual reality and/or augmented reality at the center of media attention, which had not happened since the days of Second Life media hype.

Announcements regarding virtual and augmented reality

The most ambitious project, at least as numbers, is that of Oculus Rift: last May 5 speaking at Disrupt New York 2014 organized by TechCrunch, Oculus co-founder and Ceo, Brendan Iribe, “veteran” (born in 1979) of the game industry as he has been in the Firaxis development team which worked on the user interface of Civilitation IV, then has been co-founder and Ceo of Scaleform (the leading global provider of technological interfaces for video games, acquired by Autodesk in 2011) and at last Chief product officer of Gaikai (another success company, bought by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2012), announced that Oculus and Facebook will create a massive multi-player virtual online community (Mmo) by a billion players.

So far in the time of the peak of active users in 2010, World of Warcraft, the Activision Blizzard‘s Mmo, had reached 12 million users, while Second Life, Linden Lab‘s virtual world, exceeded 37.6 million registered users and (in June 2013) claimed to have 1 million active users on a monthly basis. Facebook claimed at the end of March 1.28 billion registered users (of which 802 million active users on a monthly basis).

So far the number are much smaller

How will Oculus Rift be able to see its device adopted from all FB active users over the next few years if so far not been able to sell more than 85 thousand (and if Sony itself since the start in November 2013 sold “just” 7,4 million Play Station 4 consoles, though the best selling console of all time, the PS2, has reached 840 millions) is not clear, but what is clear is that the prospect of a “super” Second Life strengthened and made “virtually real” devices such as those of many Oculus Rift scares many.

This is also why the path followed by Google with its Glasses is different, based not on immersive virtual worlds but on augmented reality, enabling people not so much to visit distant places and fantastic live lives without leaving your room, butby extending their capabilities a bit as mobile phones or tablets did.

A different approach by SocialRadar

So an app developer for tablets and smartphones as SocialRadar, Us startup founded and lead by Michael Chasen (ex Kpmg consultant, past founder and Ceo of Blackboard, sold in 2011 to Providence Equity Partner for 1.64 billion dollars) and Kevin Alansky (a manager who led the Social Marketing team of Blackboard after several previous marketing experiences) which collected 12.75 million dollars in June 2013, after launching at the end of January, its mobile app for iOS has granted a replay announcing the Google Glasses release.

But what does SocialRadar do? If you are Second Life users it will seem like a very natural thing: it uses a stream of data taken from the main social networks (like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Linkedin and Foursquare) to provide a real-time update of the geolocation of people close to those who are wearing the Google Glasses.

How to say before going into an office (or a club) you already know how many people are present and who: if colleagues, friends or strangers, with their generality or an onymously, because of course there is the possibility that users will not agree to disclose their informations to the app in whole or in part.

The difference compared to other apps is that everything will be done in real time and will be visible on the lenses of your glasses, provided that users agree to access to their informations and that the business is standing, because so far even though we are talking about 19 ​​million of “weareble” devices which will be sold in the Us this year (but according to estimates sales would have expected to rise to nearly 112 million units per year by 2018).

Google Glasses, btw, are not exactly a “fashionable” accessory: estimates speak of sales for now lower than 10 thousand items per month, more than the Oculus Rift viewers but still a smaller niche of the “old” Second Life (that still records 10-12 thousand new registered users per day, or over 400,000 new registered users per month, despite repeated statements of “presumed death” from the media).

But what do you think: will it be more interesting a immersive virtual reality available for a billion people from home, a little like the anime Sword Art Online broadcast in recent weeks in Italy by Rai4, or an augmented reality in which instead of the cell phone we can send and receive informations at a glance, as it promises SocialRadar?

In the same moment when Facebook announced he acquisition of Oculus Rift and Palmer Luckey explained that the move was believed to be essential to make viral the virtual reality technology, destined to become in the next 10 years, according to the Oculus team, “ubiquitous, affordable, and transformative” starting from “a truly next-generation gaming experience”, there was a man who a few years ago had used almost the same words to describe a utopia, that of an immersive 3D web where contents would be created, modified and exchanged by the users themselves, who sought and found new capital to finance his latest initiative: that man was Philip Rosedale and his new venture as the reader of Mondivirtuali.it know, is High Fidelity.

Indeed apart from the news of a first round of funding in April 2013 from2.4 million dollars (on 3.4 million offer) who took part eight founders (later it became known that among these there were True Ventures, Google Ventures, Kapor Capital and Linden Lab itself), little else has been heard in recent months about High Fidelity, which, moreover, has started from the beginning of 2014 a phase of alpha test and which from video posted on its blog is engaged in an attempt to make always less “virtual” and cold the interrelation between avatars through the use of devices ranging from Google Glass to Leap Motion controller rather than with the use of 3D sensors cameras, such as PrimeSense, an interface software to process the data of the movements of the hands and face real user so you can play them through the digital avatar and Faceshift.

Sure, you knew that at the time of Rosedale and his men were engaged in development work (o much so that the company, which is defined as a “open source platform for virtual worlds” is hiring and says it is ready to assess and pay external collaborations for specific tasks) but in practice the company remains a “stealth company” ie a company that works without too much make itself heard (even if just a few days ago Rosedale revealed something more). In this case, it was learned that March 25 was filed to the Sec a document that confirms the sale of shares to 2.499 million from 2.613 million dollars on offer (so there are still to place shares for less than 114,000 dollars). We also know that this time it was only an investor (according to Techcrunch should have been True Ventures again), to underwrite the entire share capital increase.

Someone asked whether High Fidelity and its team, after the move to Facebook, are destined to become the prey of some giant social web like Google, Yahoo or Facebook itself as suggested by VentureBeat which points out that currently High Fidelity look more like a startup incubator that an individual had not yet launched a specific product (or more). We like to think that Rosedale wants to take (and he succeeded) a second chance, certainly also judging from the photos published by the Second Life’s “daddy” on Twitter (like the one you see in this article) in High Fidelity are testing all major virtual reality devices on the market (acknowledge the viewer that is visible in the background? Is the same of the photo that appears, worn by Philip, in a post of New World Notes).

That the transition from a proprietary logic to a logic open source, together with appropriate investments for the development of VR devices intended for the mass market, will finally allow the take-off of virtual worlds? We believe so and also Philip Rosedale, whom recently claimed that “Moore’s Law means that at some point the richness and detail of virtual and augmented reality experiences will rival and surpass the real world” seems to believe it. That’s why you should follow Mondivirtuali.it as well as our Twitter account and our Facebook fanpage (but you can find us even on Flickr, on Scoop.it and on Paper.li) if you wanna know more news.

In the same moment when Facebook announced the acquisition of Oculus Rift and Palmer Luckey explained that the move wasbelieved to be essential to make the viral virtual reality technology,destined to become in the next 10 years, according to the Oculus team, “ubiquitous, affordable, and transformative” starting from “a truly next-generation gaming experience”, there was a manwho a few years ago had used almost the same words to describe a utopia, that of an immersive 3D web where contents would be created, modified and exchanged by the users themselves, whosought and found new capital to finance his latest initiative: that manwas Philip Rosedale and his new venture as the reader of Mondivirtuali.it know, is High Fidelity.

Indeed apart from the news of a first round of funding in April 2013 from2.4 million dollars (on 3.4 million offer) who took part eight founders (later it became known that among these there were True Ventures, Google Ventures, Kapor Capital and Linden Lab itself), little else has been heard in recent months abourt High Fidelity, which, moreover, has started from the beginning of 2014 a phase of alpha test and which from video posted on its blog isengaged in an attempt to make always less “virtual” and cold the interrelation between avatars through the use of devices ranging from Google Glass to Leap Motion controller rather thanwith the use of 3D sensors cameras, such as PrimeSense, an interface software to process the data of the movements of the hands and face real user so you can play them through the digital avatar, and Faceshift.

Sure, you knew that at the time of Rosedale and his men were engaged in development work (o much so that the company, which is defined as a “open source platform for virtual worlds” is hiring and says it is ready to assess and pay external collaborations for specific tasks) but in practice the company remains a “stealth company” ie a company that works without too much make itself heard (even if just a few days ago Rosedale revealed something more). In this case, it was learned that March 25 was filed to the Sec a document that confirms the sale of shares to 2.499 million from 2.613 million dollars on offer (so there are still to place shares for less than 114,000 dollars). We also know that this time it was only an investor (according to Techcrunch should have been True Ventures again), to underwrite the entire share capital increase.

Someone asked whether High Fidelity and its team, after the move to Facebook, are destined to become the prey of some giant socialweb as Google, Yahoo or Facebook itself assuggested by VentureBeat which points out that currently High Fidelity look more like a startup incubator that an individual had not yet launched a specific product (or more). We like to think that Rosedale wants to take (and he succeeded) a second chance, certainly also judging from the photos published by the Second Life’s “daddy” on Twitter (like the one you see in this article) in High Fidelity are testing all major virtual reality devices on the market (acknowledge the viewer that is visible in the background? Is the same of the photo that appears, worn by Philip, in a post of New World Notes).

That the transition from a proprietary logic to a logic open source, together with appropriate investments for the development of VR devices intended for the mass market, will finally allow the take-off of virtual worlds? We believe so and also Philip Rosadale, whom recently claimed that “Moore’s Law means that at some point the richness and detail of virtual and augmented reality experiences will rival and surpass the real world” seems to believe it. That’s why you should follow Mondivirtuali.it as well as our Twitter account and our Facebook fanpage (but you can find us even on Flickr, on Scoop.it and on Paper.li) if you wanna know more news.

The decision to outsource the development of new products and services seems likely to be the hallmark of the strategy with which Linden Lab tries to turn the page: a few days ago it was announced the launch of SL Go OnLive, an announcement that seems to confirm, after the decision to discontinue the development of some products such as dio, Versu and Creatorverse, the decision to focus more on outsourcing and the development of new industrial and commercial partnerships, rather than the internal development of new products by the Californian company or to acquire them as happened with Blocksworld.

But as has already been written by bloggers admitted to the beta testing of the service, as Inara Pey, to propose the partnership was not Linden Lab, but Gary Lauder, the Chairman of OnLive (founded in 2003 at San Francisco by Steve Perlman and soon became the most famous provider of cloud streaming U.S., but imploded in August of 2012 when Perlman, who already had invested in 2009, took over the company which accordlingly to some sources with 8,000 server did not have more than 1,600 users, too few to support operating costs estimated in 5 million dollars per month), at the beginning of last year.

This seems to mean that SL Go OnLive can have greater importance for Perlman rather than for Ebbe Altberg, Ceo of Linden Lab,which makes sense given that Second Life can offer a wider choice of games offered by OnLive more than a paid service for Perlman rather than for (the first 20 minutes of connection are offered as a free trial, then you pay from $ 3 per hour to $ 25 for 10 hours of connection) can represent users of a virtual world used in very large part in free mode, especially if you do not have a broadband connection. The same Altberg in a conversation on Twitter explained to “don’t know” when SL Go OnLive will be available in all countries, since “it’s up to them”. “We want it to grow and be successful” added, “but it’s their product and their business”.

On the other hand the same Altberg always on Twitter invited those who would try to participate in the beta testing on the integration of Oculus Rift technology (glasses that make possible a 3Ddigital stereoscopic vision, of whom you see an image courtesy of Oculus VR) and Second Life and give a feedback. At the moment there is no “consumer” version of Oculus Rift, but Linden Labis developing a viewer that allows the use of the same with this device. Obviously, in order to participate in the experiment you must have a Oculus Rift. In the meantime the road to greater use of outsourcing and industrial and commercial partnerships by Linden Lab seems a certainty rather than a possibility. If you want to know how it will end continue to follow this site as well as our Twitter account and our fanpage on Facebook.

P.S. Breaking news of March 26th, 2014: is confirmed that Facebook bought Oculus Rift for 2 billion dollars. What will Zuckerber do of glasses for 3D virtual reality is not yet clear, if I were in Ebbe Altberg and/or in Linden Lab I will be very curious about…

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